Benchmark: While loop vs Closest

HTML Preparation code:

<script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<style type="text/css">
.hidden {
display: none;
}
</style>
<div class="visible">
<div class="hidden">
<div class="hidden">
<div class="hidden hidden-last"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
      

      <script>

        Benchmark.prototype.setup = function() {

          
  var $element = $('.hidden-last');

        
  };


      
</script>

Tests:

while
while ($element.is(":hidden")) { $element = $element.parent(); }
closest
$element = $element.closest(':visible')

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
while
closest

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 6 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/141.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome 141 on Mac OS X 10.15.7

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
while	255975.6 Ops/sec
closest	266839.7 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

Let's dive into the world of JavaScript microbenchmarks on MeasureThat.net!

**Benchmark Overview**

The provided benchmark compares two approaches: using a `while` loop and using the `$element.closest(':visible')` method in jQuery to traverse an element's DOM tree. The goal is to determine which approach is faster.

**Script Preparation Code**

The script preparation code includes:

1. Including jQuery library from Google Ajax Libraries API.
2. Defining a basic HTML structure with a `div` element containing multiple nested `div` elements, all hidden by default (`class="hidden"`).

This setup allows the benchmark to focus on the comparison of the two traversal methods.

**Benchmark Definition**

The benchmark definition is an array of two objects:

1. **"while"**: This object defines the `benchmark definition` as a `while` loop that continues until the `$element.is(":hidden")` condition is false.
2. **"closest"**: This object defines the `benchmark definition` as using the `$element.closest(':visible')` method to traverse up the DOM tree until it finds an element with the class "visible".

**Options Compared**

The two options compared are:

1. **While loop (`while`)**: Uses a traditional `while` loop to iterate through the DOM tree, checking for the presence of each hidden sibling element.
2. **jQuery `.closest()` method (`closest`)**: Utilizes jQuery's `.closest()` method to traverse up the DOM tree and find an element with the class "visible", which is assumed to be a descendant of the current element.

**Pros and Cons**

Here are some pros and cons for each approach:

1. **While loop (`while`)**:
	* Pros: Simple, easy to understand, and might be more efficient for small DOM trees.
	* Cons: Can become slower for large DOM trees due to unnecessary iterations and checks.
2. **jQuery `.closest()` method (`closest`)**:
	* Pros: Optimized for traversing the DOM tree, with fewer iterations and checks compared to a `while` loop.
	* Cons: May require jQuery library inclusion, which can add overhead.

**Library Used (if applicable)**

In this benchmark, the jQuery library is used for its `.closest()` method. The library provides an optimized implementation of traversing the DOM tree, which makes the comparison more meaningful.

**Special JS Feature/Syntax**

None of the code snippets use any special JavaScript features or syntax that would affect their performance. However, it's worth noting that the use of jQuery can introduce additional overhead due to its dependencies and optimizations.

**Other Alternatives**

If you're interested in exploring other approaches, here are a few alternatives:

1. **Recursive function**: You could define a recursive function that traverses the DOM tree using a `while` loop or recursion.
2. **Array-based traversal**: Use an array to store references to elements and traverse it manually using indexing and iteration.
3. **DomTraversals library**: There are other libraries available, such as DomTraversals, that can help you traverse the DOM tree more efficiently.

Keep in mind that the performance differences between these alternatives may vary depending on your specific use case and requirements.

I hope this explanation helps you understand the benchmark better!

Related benchmarks:

While loop vs Closest (version: 0)

Comparing performance of: while vs closest

Created: 8 years ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

while

closest

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model llama3.2:3b, generated one year ago):